Can You Date Someone You’re Not Really Attracted To?

They say don’t judge a book by its cover - but does that mean you should always “give them a chance” if you’re not immediately attracted to someone? In this episode we’re debating whether attraction needs to be instant or can grow over time, are we stringing people along if we wait for it to develop, and have dating apps have killed slowburn romance. SHOW NOTES: Romantic attraction and evolution: New study pinpoints key traits in mate selection: The Preferred Traits of Mates in a Cross-National Study of Heterosexual and Homosexual Men and Women: OUR EP: Unpacking Adolescence, The Manosphere and The 80/20 Rule DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: thehookup@abc.net.au The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

You can listen to Can You Date Someone You’re Not Really Attracted To? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Can You Date Someone You’re Not Really Attracted To? is an episode from The Hook Up by Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

This episode is 0:41:02 long.

This episode was published on Mar 2, 2026.

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